Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

May 19, 2009

Virginia rated it:

The book opens with Sean Syrrell, a dealer in art and antiquities, firing his granddaughter from his firm, and then within an hour being killed. Before he died, he arranged for a treasure hunter, Harry, to be released from prison in Barbados, where he has been confined because he found a treasure that the government wanted for its own. Harry is given instructions to protect Sean's granddaughter, a headstrong girl with the unfortunate name of Storm. The two team up, and together they begin to unr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 18, 2009

Cathy rated it:

Gold of Kings by Davis Bunn has it all: thrills, chills, spills and a romance to boot! What's not to love about this story?

Storm Syrrell is an elegant and elusive heiress to her grandfather's arts dealership. When he dies unexpectedly, her world is torn upside down.

Harry Bennett is a treasure dog who has been all over the world searching for treasure. His latest venture? A lengthy tour of a prison in Barbados. When his sentence is drastically reduced, and he finds himself More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 29, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

I bought this book because I loved Davis Bunn's new book Lion of Babylon.

Gold of Kings was...ok. Storm Syrell loses her grandfather, the owner of a high-end antiquities business, in what looks like suspicious circumstances. As Storm grieves his loss and tries to figure out how to hold on to the family business, she meets up with Emma, a cool but idealistic FBI agent, and Harry Bennett a "treasure dog" with unexpected strengths. Together, the three unlikely partners go in s More...

0 comments like

Jul 06, 2009

Tom rated it:

I won this book from Goodreads a few months ago and have not had the opportunity to read it until now. In fact, my parents borrowed it and both loved it.

It is an exciting read with 2 plots intertwined in a quick and light read. This is something my wife would call "fluff", Nothing wrong with that, but it does describe the depth of the writing. If you are in the mood for an easy mystery/quest story than this is for you.

We start with the murder of a dealer of anti More...

0 comments like

Sep 28, 2011

Jeanne rated it:

I had a hard time with this book. I did not connect with the characters. I connected more to the character who was killed and dead within the first chapter. I didn't understand or comprehend the relationship between Harry and the two women. It didn't make any sense to me and the author wasn't real clear throughout this entire novel. I found myself lost throughout this entire book and wondered many times how the 3 treasure hunters got to where they were and why. I don't get lost in too many books More...

0 comments like

Aug 19, 2009

Rossrn rated it:

Davis Bunn's Gold of Kings was a decent quest based suspense novel, but my three stars are on the closer to two side of the rating scale.

I liked the three main characters, Harry, Emma, and Storm, as well as Hakim and Leon, and while mostly a memory Sean had a powerful role throughout as well.

While other books I'd read featured people seeking treasure or to uncover a historic object of significance, this one just didn't seem to strike me with strong enough motivation for doing More...

0 comments like

Aug 19, 2011

Tara rated it:

This was a fun, fast-paced, treasure hunt of a thriller that was fairly entertaining.[return][return]However, it did take some time to get used to the clipped sentences. It seems as though the author were seeing a movie in his head and was trying his hardest to keep his writing up to the fast pace. [return][return]The language had no real flavour to it. It was at its most entertaining when you thought of it as a movie tie-in novel, just without the benefits of actually having a film to watc More...

0 comments like

May 05, 2009

Sarah rated it:

This was a fun, entertaining, and interesting book. The story of a long time "treasure dog" doing one of his best friends (Sean) one last favor after Sean's death, and protecting his granddaughter. Through meeting the granddaughter (Storm), he (Harry) begins, with Storm, a hunt for some of the most sought-after and desired treasure, that no one had ever been able to find. There are lots of twists and turns, and the excitement that comes along with the main characters being hunted. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 03, 2009

Margaret rated it:

Now this was a fun book! "Gold of Kings" is quite adventurous and easily can be visualized as an action film much like National Treasure or the Da Vinci Code films in theory. The reading of this book gives off a similar vibe to Matt Bronleewe's August Adams series, although it is not quite as cool in my opinion as I just loved those books, but really like this one.

There are really three main characters that you are following through out the book in their physical, mental, More...

0 comments like

Nov 26, 2010

Victoria rated it:

Not the best historical thriller I've read. The story took a good 100 pages to get going and when I found out the treasure was the Second Temple gold, I was excited. However, there is a lot of situational explanation and character exploration and not enough history. If I took out all the paragraphs dealing with the actual history, it would probably come out to maybe 10 of the 300-odd pages. Alright, I'm probably exaggerating but I felt cheated out of a good history lesson on the Second Temple tr More...

0 comments like

May 27, 2010

Paula rated it:

this adventure novel has a lot of intrigue, tons of adventure, a love story, and an historical a put forth that is maybe not plausible, but maybe so??? a young woman inherits her fathers art gallery, dealing in antiquities. a deep sea fortune hunter finds himself mysteriously released from a north african prison. the fathers book of contacts and secret codes turns up in a safety deposit box with hints of treasure. and the game is afoot! the storyline and characters blow dan brown out of the More...

0 comments like

Jul 28, 2011

Lilly W. rated it:

Gold Of Kings,By: Davis Bunn
Option One Project, My first book Started May 3.

This book is a marvelous book it is about four main people one an older man Mr. Syrell, Storm, Harry, and Emma. Now in the beginning Mr. Syrell was just murdered. Then Harry (who is Mr.Syrell's treasure hunting buddy) was just released from jail for which he was falsely accused. He was picked up by Mr.Syrell's l More...

4 comments like

Mar 20, 2010

Lise rated it:

I really enjoyed this book, which I received for free through Goodreads Firstreads program. It's a fast paced, cinematic thriller about a 'treasure dog' and an international conspiracy in the art world. It starts off with a bizarre murder in an exotic location, and keeps ramping up the excitement from there. The story is a world-spanning, rip-roaring, non stop action fest which manages to integrate enough character development and history to keep it interesting to an old curmudgeon like me.
More...

0 comments like

May 19, 2009

Clockstein rated it:

Gold of Kings by Davis Bunn is a fast-paced suspenseful thriller about the quest for an ancient treasure. Storm Syrrell's world has fallen apart. Her grandfather Sean fired her from the family business of selling rare and high priced pieces of art just before dying of a heart attack. To make things worse, she's not even mentioned in the will. Harry Bennett has spent the last three years of his life wasting away in a jail cell in Barbados for a crime he didn't commit. Sean's actions in his last d More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 03, 2009

Heather rated it:

I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I didn't expect to hate it, but I didn't think I'd enjoy it like I did.

I really liked the protagonists - Harry, Storm, and Emma. Although, Emma was my least favorite of the three. Something about her just wasn't quite right. And I found the relationship between Harry and Emma a bit hard to swallow. Something about it just didn't seem right to me. But, I'm able to overlook that. The story itself was well-written and very engaging. I espec More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 07, 2009

Jeanne rated it:

I got an advanced reader copy of this book; so let me see if I can give you my best opinion on this book. First let me say I felt it was written very well, and the characters are very likeable. This book started a bit slow for me, I did not feel until ½ way through the book did the real excitement started. To me a book they gets five stars is one I just can’t put down because I can wait to see what happen next this one just did not do that for me until I reached the final chapters. But having re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 17, 2009

Lynn rated it:

This would make a great film. (Well, actually it would depend on the actors chosen, how the screenwriters adapt it and change the ending to what they think moviegoers want.) The plot is believable. The characters were well developed, but the dialogue read more like a script than a book. The action hits fast and moves.

I found myself taking the book to work so I could read a few pages over lunch, then to the gym after work...a few miles on the treadmill went quickly.

More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 11, 2009

Tepcat rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 23, 2011

Jacob rated it:

This guy is an award winning author, but don't think this was one of his better works. I had a hard time following the story. He didn't set scenes well and often left out details in order to be suspenseful I think but just made me think I had missed something. Apparently there was a deeper meaning to the book, but definitely missed that. Sorry Davis, wouldn't recommend this one...

0 comments like

Jan 12, 2011

Rachel rated it:

I actually liked this book much better than the previous Bunn novel I read. The story is very interesting: lost treasure from the Second Temple in Jerusalem hidden in a cave in Turkey. What I liked about this book is that Bunn took time to give a little historical background that told about where the characters were going and why.

What I didn't like was that somewhere in the middle of the book, two of the main characters suddenly find themselves in love with each other, and the auth More...

0 comments like

Aug 09, 2009

Edward rated it:

I won this book from Goodreads a few months back and decided to wait to read as it sounded like a great summer read and I was not disappointed. The storey is quick paced and enjoyable. The writing is crisp and the characters are a tad predictable at times but that is fine for this type of storey.

0 comments like

Nov 28, 2009

Margery rated it:

Another search for the Grail adventure (read only a month after Levin's The Last Ember.) They are eerily similar in that treasure seekers are convinced that gold from the Second Temple of Israel is hidden on Cyprus.

0 comments like

May 21, 2011

Megan rated it:

While I enjoyed "Gold Of Kings" and plan to read the sequel, I thought quite a few parts were very boring, monotonous & unbelievable. The book started off great and held my interest very well. Towards the middle it started to get dull and became a struggle for me to keep reading it but I am glad I did. The last 100 pages were very exciting and I thought it ended very well.

0 comments like

Oct 18, 2011

Terry rated it:

As the story started I was intrigued and loving it. By the time I was half way through I'm thinking will this guy get to the point. I was able to put this book down with only 20 pages to go. Not something I usually can or want to do. I might give this guy a second chance, but if this is his style there will not be a third read.

0 comments like

May 11, 2009

Camilla rated it:

I enjoyed this book - I probably would have enjoyed it more (finished faster) if I hadn't had such a busy couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I barely had enough time to sit down and read more than a chapter at a time, and I really think I would have appreciated the book more if I had more time at a sitting. It kind of ruined the suspense for me. That said, I still liked the book - I found it to be a lot of fun, and I loved the little bits of history that were woven in (I just wish there had been mo More...

0 comments like

May 01, 2009

Alissa rated it:

I enjoyed the hunt for treasure and the action parts of this book, especially the prison break scene. But I have to admit some of the dialog left me a little confused and I would have to reread parts to catch what was going on.

0 comments like

Dec 31, 2011

Charity rated it:

Loved this one! Really great. Both of the Storm Syrrell mysteries/adventures are!

0 comments like

Aug 23, 2009

Amy rated it:

Treasure hunting, similar to The Da Vinci Code. Yes, I could recommend.

0 comments like

Sep 22, 2011

Daphne rated it:

A fun read, somewhat predictable. I am a big Davis Bunn fan.

0 comments like

Jun 20, 2010

Margaret rated it:

This is an Indiana Jones type adventure story. I liked the book a lot at the beginning but it got pretty fantastic about 2/3 of the way through. Ok for what it was.

0 comments like

reviews